in desperation of winning
by rhead-a-holyc
Summary: Desperation makes even Tom reckless. Zombie Apocalypse!AU Pre-established relationship. Harry/Tom. Slash. Char Death mentioned.


A jagged streak of lightning shot through the sky, followed by an ominous rumble of thunder.

Nearly everything they had been once been fighting over was lying in ruins. They had dragged each other down, Dark and Light, and had taken everything that surrounded them on the war path to rock bottom. The journey there was almost over.

Tom remembered how it had all started: they had been losing the war.

Both their magical power combined had not been enough to hold the Ministry and Order of the Phoenix at bay, especially, at that time, their numbers seemed to be increasing with every passing day.

Tom had known that there wasn't much left that they could do. The Death Eaters had been falling like flies to the Order. At first it had been barely noticeable but once their numbers had dropped significantly, it became obvious that they were slowly being picked off as well.

Harry had offered to reveal his standing in the war, knowing it would cause people to start questioning Dumbledore and the Order's decisions. Tom had rejected the idea immediately. While that would help with the war, it would also cause the Order to focus their attention on capturing Harry. Tom definitely did not want that to happen.

Tom made it very clear that he was not risking Harry for the war, and that closed that topic. Harry had been put-out about that, and had complained for days about being 'useless baggage' to the Death Eaters.

Until one day, he simply didn't. After half a day of not hearing even the slightest squeak from Harry, Tom had been growing worried that Harry had decided to take matters into his own hands and _do something_ in a foolishly Gryffindor manner.

Tom had been surprised to find that Harry had, in fact, been engrossed in researching some topic or the other, and had _shushed him_ when Tom asked what he was researching. He had honestly never known there was a Ravenclaw in Harry.

"I've found it!" Harry exclaimed at last.

Tom raised an eyebrow and waited for Harry to continue.

"Luna had told me of her father believing in three mythical objects: the Deathly Hallows! If we use the stone, we could probably raise as many people as we need from the dead!"

"These objects are probably exactly that _mythical_. There is no proof of their existence," Tom said sighing.

"But there is! The 'Elder wand' has a blood everywhere it pops up in history, and, well, the invisibility cloak…" Harry held up his own invisibility cloak sheepishly. "My father used this, and passed it down to me. No other invisibility cloak would last that long."

"Hypothetically, where would we find the stone then?" Tom asked, not really believing much of what Harry was saying. It seemed too good to be true.

"Well, I've been trying to figure that out for myself. According to the family trees, in theory, a family of 'Gaunts' should have the ring…"

Tom's eyes had widened. That really _was_ too good to be true.

The Death Eater numbers had dribbled down to somewhere below a hundred only two months later and Tom's desperation had grown exponentially.

It was time to use the ring. They had nothing else to loose, or so he had thought.

Seeing Dumbledore's expression as the ring lay on his finger, had been very satisfying in that moment.

"You're not that desperate, Tom," Dumbledore had said wearily, his voice had somehow managed to be heard above the shouts and screams around them.

"You don't understand, I'm desperate times a hundred! I'm the very definition of desperate!" Tom snarled in return. "I will win."

"You wish to win so badly that you will destroy everything you want to win in the process."

Dumbledore had died not too long afterwards, by Tom's hand.

Tom thought Dumbledore was laughing in his shallow grave right now, his warning having come true. Tom regretted that he had overlooked the fact that these undead did not follow instructions as inferi did. They were tougher and more desperate, but less controllable.

Tom barely managed to miss the rotting innards that had come flying his way.

"Sorry Tom! But you really should have been paying more attention!"

**AN: Written for Rubik's Cube Challenge: Zombie Apocalypse!AU**

**Written for Bot-Battles Challenge: "You don't understand, I'm desperate times a hundred! I'm the very definition of desperate!"**

**Written for OTP Boot Camp Challenge: Jagged**


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